Funding to develop lower-cost solutions for measuring soil organic carbon stocks

This grant opportunity supports proof of concept, validation or early-stage commercialisation activities relating to the development of lower cost, accurate technological solutions for soil carbon measurement.

Successful applicants will demonstrate how their proposed technology solution is effective at measuring, estimating and/or predicting soil organic carbon in an operational environment.

The objectives of the grant opportunity are to:

• fast-track the development and commercial readiness of low-cost and accurate technology solutions to measure and estimate soil carbon stocks, to a standard that could support greater participation in Australian Carbon Credit Unit (ACCU) projects
• validate and demonstrate the effectiveness of technology solutions under Australian operational environments
• engage and collaborate with landholders to ensure technology solutions can be used in a cost-effective way within diverse farm management operations
• leverage co-investment to develop, validate and demonstrate the technology solutions.

The intended outcomes of the grant opportunity are:

• cost-effective and accurate technology solutions that are nearly commercialised or ready for full commercial deployment
• publicly accessible soil organic carbon stock data for long-term public benefit  
• increased market interest in and use of low-cost and accurate soil carbon measurement technologies
• collaborative research partnerships between industry entities and research organisations.

This opportunity is part of National Soil Carbon Innovation Challenge program.